Letters to the Editor: The GAA now has a top-down approach
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It must be nearly 30 years ago since Talking Heads had a hit with their song ‘Road To Nowhere’ — might I suggest that as the GAA approaches the 140th anniversary of it’s foundation, next year, that this song be adopted as the GAA anthem?
One of the chorus lines is ‘We’re on the road to nowhere’ and in my humble opinion, these words are a true and accurate reflection of the present state of this once-great association.
This week, the GAA launched it’s National League season ticket for 2024.
In former years this ticket represented great value covering all the National League games for any particular county and a ticket for that county’s first Championship game.
This year the ticket price has increased and the inclusion of the Championship ticket has been removed. They call this “sporting progress” I believe!
My congratulations are extended to the footballers of Castlehaven on winning the Munster Club Football Championship title recently, but shame on the Croke Park mandarins that deemed championship games in both hurling and football be decided on penalties after two periods of extra time.
I don’t mind if it’s in the blazing sunshine of a June or the winter blizzard we witnessed last Sunday — it’s wrong, absolutely wrong.
Is it an amateur association or not?
If it is, it should treat the players respectfully — not in the same manner as fully paid professionals.
Another part of the “hidden agenda” of the split season now being exposed.
In the spring of this year when the GAA announced that it had completed building a new invidious structure — the “pay wall” — there was justifiable outrage from GAA members across the land and from Oireachtas and European Parliament members.
All rightly objected to the fact that the GAA itself, in a complicated 50/50 relationship with RTÉ, decided that in order to watch many Championship games followers had to join up to this GAAGO paywall abomination.
There was a time when the GAA promoted hurling and football — not anymore, it now makes it difficult, nay, impossible for hundreds of thousands of fans to see the games they love on television.
I’m not just talking of the fee to be paid, but the fact that for tens of thousands of genuine GAA people smart TVs, broadband, and internet connections simply do not exist.
At the time of the objections, the GAA promised to revisit the whole GAA concept.
The GAAGO schedule for 2024 was announced recently — more of the same, with many top-class games once again being denied to the ordinary followers all across the country.
How dare GAA president Larry McCarthy defend the indefensible.
He stated games like Cork v Limerick and Cork v Waterford “wouldn’t be seen by anyone on TV only for GAAGO” what a laughable, ludicrous, and downright untruthful statement to come out with!
I know all about “broadcasting rights packages” but please, please, Liam McCarthy, you’re the president of the GAA, don’t hide behind phrases like “condensed season” etc, to cover up the scandalous treatment being meted out to our national game of hurling.
There was a time when a GAA club in East or North Cork — or anywhere in the country — could propose a motion on any matter of concern to them.
If passed, that motion went to County Convention and, if successful there, went on to be discussed at the GAA’s Annual Congress. Gone with the wind!
That’s when the GAA was a grassroots-based, truly democratic organisation.
As a GAA member with over 50 years I can well recall when I felt I had as much “ownership” of the GAA as the president or the ard stiúrthóir.
God be with those days, gone like the time when we could play Club Hurling Championship games in May or June or July.
In my opinion, our once-great association is now top-down.
The people who now hold the reins of power in Croke Park — many from non-GAA backgrounds — don’t seem to give a damn about us. Truly, we are on the road to nowhere.
I live in the small village of Rossmore which is a 10- to 15-minute drive from Clonakilty.
Getting to Clonakilty is, at the moment, not accessible or easy due to the extreme lack of public transport in my area.
The only way that I can get to Clonakilty is by taking the school bus to school, or, by driving.
There is currently only ONE bus that goes into Clonakilty from Rossmore.
This bus only comes once a week on a Friday at lunchtime and this bus can only be booked, so the option of just getting on is not available.
This is not OK.
I know that myself and the people in my community, especially the elderly population who are unable to drive would benefit hugely if public transport options were increased.
An increase in public transport in my area would mean me and my local community would be able to commute to Clonakilty much more easily which would be extremely beneficial. I urge you to take action.
It is an utter disgrace that an island nation — that is, a country that depends on the sea for 90% of her trade — is unable and politically unwilling to ensure our Defence Forces are supplied with the latest and most up-to-date hardware necessary to protect our country.
This is exemplified in that our minister for defence position is secondary to other responsibilities; has no clout in Government and has never flown an aircraft, been in command of a warship and never held a senior rank in our army.
No wonder our governments cannot see the necessity of paying our naval personnel etc an adequate wage, our army personnel etc second-rate equipment and our air corps.
Personnel fly 30-year-old jets that are past their useful defensive capabilities.
It’s pure lip service and a crying shame that political ambitions are more important than the safety and security of our State, our waters, and our citizens.
Look around and see what is happening throughout Europe and further afield and take action now before it is too late.
Wake up you lazy people. Support our Defence Forces now.
Over the past month, more often than not, at least one driver breaks the red light at each set of lights that I have encountered around the city and suburbs.
This behaviour is steadily becoming more common.
It must inevitably lead to injuries and even fatalities, never mind crashes if it is not stopped.
It also creates traffic jams: The traffic light sequences are designed to let through only as many vehicles as will fit into the next bit of street.
The selfish red light-breakers spoil the flow of traffic for everyone, and many of them do it regularly and intentionally.
It’s past time for the authorities to persuade drivers to work within the system for the sake of safety and quicker traffic flow.
To be or not to be, that is the question when it comes to the so-called historic agreement that everyone at Cop28 is raving about.
Is it really a Cop out?
While it urges nations to transition away from fossil fuels it does not obligate countries to phase them out altogether.
The eight options proposed in the agreement to reduce our carbon emissions is a form of get-out-jail-free card for the bigger emitters and suppliers of fossil fuels.
For countries to “contribute to the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050”, it will not be achievable if there aren’t definitive and watertight obligations on all nations to reduce their emissions to net zero.
This agreement, with its loopholes allowing countries to continue to use fossil fuels, will do nothing to assuage the fears of countries who suffer the most from climate change.
This agreement, while not binding, pushes for carbon capture, transition to cleaner energy like solar and wind, but still allows countries to use or even extract fossil fuels, one of them being Saudi Arabia itself and the chairman of Cop28, Sultan Al Jaber.
How can we achieve 40% reduction in emission globally, so that we can get to that all encompassing figure of 1.5C, when the biggest emitters, China or the US, don’t attend or where we disadvantage certain African countries, who rely, as part of their economies, the extraction of fossil fuels, while suffering the most serious effects of climate change?
Many more hills to climb, but for our world; its beautiful plants, animals and oceans, the clock is ticking. We have no time to waste.
Maybe we should start with Cop gatherings themselves and the carbon footprints it has left.
So Enoch Burke claims he is in prison because of decisions made by judges.
Oh dear, Enoch, all of those who are in prison are there because of decisions made by judges.